Outstanding loans of commercial banks grew at a slower rate in December 2018, another indication that the economy is slowing down.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), citing preliminary data, said outstanding loans of commercial banks, net of reverse repurchase (RRP) placements with the BSP, increased by 15.6% in December compared to 16.8% in November.
Growth in bank lending inclusive of RRPs also decelerated to 14.7 percent in December from 15.4 percent in November, the central bank added.
The bulk of the banks’ aggregate loan portfolio net of RRP, or 88.8%, went to production activities.
This segment also increased at a slower pace of 15.8 percent in December from 17.2 percent in November.
The growth in production loans was driven primarily by lending to the following sectors: financial and insurance activities, which increased by 30.6%; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (15.2%); real estate activities (11.1%); manufacturing (13.1%); electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply (12%); and, construction (35.9%). Bank lending to other sectors also increased during the month.
View BSP table here
The central bank also noted that growth of loans for household consumption was marginally lower in December at 13.5% compared to the 13.8% growth in the previous month.
“The deceleration in motor vehicle loans as well as the contraction in salary-based general purpose consumption loans and other types of household loans was tempered by the faster expansion in credit card loans during the month,” the central bank said. (Ventures Cebu)
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